Learn How to Sit with Intense Emotions

Intense emotions can be uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. So, how do you handle an intense emotion when it comes up for you?

Well, first of all, don’t move. Let yourself be completely present with the emotion. Don’t eat or turn on the TV to distract yourself from it. Don’t call your friends to scatter its energy by talking about it.

Stop and FEEL it. Let yourself be present with it. You’ll find that if you let yourself be present with it, and don’t try and distract yourself from it, push it away, or worst of all… dump it on someone else, at the very core of that feeling, you will find peace. If you don’t believe me, try it…

The next time you start to feel a powerful emotion, just let it be… Don’t move… Welcome it.

When we are alone for any length of time, trying to ignore that chattering monkey in our heads reminding us of all the things we ‘need’ to do, we can start to feel uncomfortable feelings surfacing deep from somewhere within ourselves.

Our normal reaction is to DO things to take our mind away from the feelings we don’t want to feel, or to phone or message someone to talk about them and dissipate those feelings.

The problem with this is that it doesn’t resolve them. All it does is put them on the back burner until next time you are alone.

So feel the uncomfortable feeling and name it — loneliness, fear, sadness or whatever. Is there a feeling behind this feeling, such as despair? Keep on going until you find a sense of nothingness. This is the level of the ‘soul’.

This is a very brief description of Brandon Bay’s Journeying process to uncover unpleasant emotions and resolve them.